101 govt agencies apply to set up nurseries

Deputy Minister of Women, Family and Community Development YB Hannah Yeoh

KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development has received 101 applications from government agencies to set up nurseries in their work places.

Its deputy minister Hannah Yeoh said the application was opened from Jan 24 until Feb 7, in line with a RM10 million allocation provided to set up 50 new nurseries in government buildings, which was announced in the 2019 Budget.

‘’We find 501 government agencies including state government agencies do not have care centres at the work places ... so this is among our efforts to boost nurseries to ensure the security of children,’’ she said.

She said this when answering to a question from Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff (PAS-Rantau Panjang) who wanted to know the number of registered nurseries in the country and the steps taken by the ministry to ensure the safety of children was guaranteed under trained caregivers.

As of Jan, there were 4,466 nurseries registered under the ministry.

Answering a question from Alice Lau Kiong Yieng (PH-Lanang) on the proposal to build a nursery at Parliament building, Yeoh said the ministry was still waiting for the proposal paper from Parliament.

‘’Deputy Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail) had a meeting with the Speaker and stated that Parliament is the place where the law is enacted. This message is important for the whole of Malaysia to see that the place where the law is made has the infrastructure to encourage women to become elected representatives,’’ she said.

On the RM1,200 minimum pay to caregivers, which also impacted on the monthly cost for the low income group (B40) to send their children to nurseries, Yeoh said her ministry was aware of this and the Ministry of Human Resources was scrutinising it. — Bernama